Build a defensive team

[StocktonShorts]

As anemic as they looked at times last year, believe it or not scoring wasn't the Jazz's problem. They averaged 106.8 points/100 possessions, good enough for 6th in the league behind San Antonio's 110.9. Defensively they allowed 106.1 pts/100 poss., which put them 19th. The Celtics led the league at 98.2.

To my eyes the Jazz have more room to improve on defense; so how do you do that?

1) Trade Al Jefferson for pieces/parts. The guy will never be a + defender; he just doesn't have the tools or the mentality. Get what you can for him now because he won't be re-signed next year.

2) Convince Derrick Favors he's a center. Did he watch the playoffs? Chris Bosh played center for the Heat. Kevin Garnett often played center for Boston. Favors can play center.

3) Re-sign Andrei Kirilenko and start him at PF.

4) See if Millsap will sign a reasonable extension ($8M/year) to be your sixth man. If not, ship him for a plus-defender, preferably a 3 and D wing.

5) Find a college coach who knows defense and would like a raise and a crack at the NBA and put him on Ty's bench.

Your starting lineup:

Favors
AK
Marvin
Hayward
Mo

Bench:

Millsap/3-D guy
Kanter
Burks
Carroll
Watson

Mo is the weak link on defense, but otherwise it's pretty solid, assuming you've got a coach who can utilize their strengths. That team would be a little worse on offense that last year's team (especially at first), but has the potential to be VASTLY better on defense. And frankly I'm okay with taking a step backwards on offense if it means taking a step forward on defense.

Am I crazy?

[babyjax13]

I like it if we're going for the playoffs, but I'd rather keep Al than Millsap. I think that his threat of rim protection is more beneficial that what Millsap brings - but most obviously disagree. I wish we would have just traded for some young talent and cap space, though. I feel like we're going the way of all the Milwaukee and Charlotte's of the league - short lived mediocrity.

[carrottop12]

Marvin Williams is a good wing defender, Favors is a stud. We'll be okay.

[erudite23]

Don't think the basic idea is crazy, but I don't think we need to get that cute. More and more, today's NBA is about playing pick and roll defense, helping to prevent penetration and rotating to jump shooters. The days of needing a big time defensive center to play post D and patrol the immediate paint area are a thing of the past. That's still great to have, obviously, and don't get me wrong here, but its not essential or next to it. The key to today's defensive schemes are athletic wings who can cover ground, and a mobile big man who can lock his own man down, while also playing every type of pick and roll coverage you need him to. Favors is as good a young big as there is in the league in that respect. He has a chance to be an all timer.

Morever, Kanter has surprisingly shown a similar penchant from the Center position. I think that's potentially a pretty strong foundation for a big time defense already. And Kanter gives you the beef in the paint to hold the fort against the old school big guy if you happen to run into him at some point, too.

What we really need is a coach who preaches D and who can teach it. Then we need one, just ONE, legitimate big time defender on the perimeter. Someone like Rondo. Tony Allen. An old school Battier or Bowen. Someone cut out of that cloth. I thought Singleton had a chance to be that guy last year. MKG is going to be that guy down the road. If we can get someone like that, I think we're on our way. But it will take some time, and a different coach. Still, I think we'll make a big leap up this year defensively no matter what we do. I doubt we maintain our offensive standing, though.

[HolyToledo]

Big Al needs to go bc his defense is so bad. He will NEVER accept a bench roll. Millsap will accept a bench roll with an extension. KOC get rid of Jefferson today.

[Inigo Montoya]

Big Al needs to go bc his defense is so bad. He will NEVER accept a bench roll. Millsap will accept a bench roll with an extension. KOC get rid of Jefferson today.

I think there should be a balance. Yes, Big Al is not a great defender, but no one on the Jazz roster is the offensive player that Al is. It is all about finding a good blend, and with Mo, Hayward, Marvin Williams and Favors, there is a good blend of offense and defense. If you take Big Al out of the Jazz, you don't get to be the 6th best offense in the league. But if you start Favors, Marvin and Hayward, your defense will be better than 19th.

Also, this roster is pretty much constructed around Big Al at least for this season. The personnel moves that were made confirm that - Marvin is a good spot up shooter, Mo instead of Harris was also made to address spot up and long range shooting, and Kevin Murphy is also supposed to be a decent shooter. Those moves were all made to take advantage of Big Al's presence on the low block. If you get rid of him, this roster won't make much sense. It all starting to look like Milsap is a goner (which is a shame coz I LOVE him).

What worries me with this roster is that there are even less players who can create opportunities and create plays for other off the dribble. Without Harris, the only ones left who fit the bill are Hayward and Burks (and MAYBE Tinsley but he is not playing much).

[Jgolds]

jefferson is a waste of space on defense all he does is get in the way. now that we have a few mor scoring threats with mo and other players like hayward and favors on the rise we really dont need jeffersons 20 points, someone else will pick up the slack they always do. i am sure favors could score 20 if he got 30 touches too.. just saying. (TRADE JEFFERSON!!!)

[StocktonShorts]

Those moves were all made to take advantage of Big Al's presence on the low block. If you get rid of him, this roster won't make much sense. It

So you're saying without Al Jefferson there's no point having guys who can knock down open jumpers?

And it's not like Al has shown he's a good passer out of the post.

[Inigo Montoya]

Those moves were all made to take advantage of Big Al's presence on the low block. If you get rid of him, this roster won't make much sense. It

So you're saying without Al Jefferson there's no point having guys who can knock down open jumpers?

And it's not like Al has shown he's a good passer out of the post.

I'm saying it will be much harder for everyone to get a quality look in order to knock down jumpers, and there will be much less open looks because the defense won't have to to concentrate on the low block. Favors is great but he is not a big or consistent offensive threat at this point. Kanter isn't either, and Milsap isn't a good post up player.

And I think Big Al showed improvement when it comes to passing out of the post. Since he came to Utah he hit career highs in assists for two straight years. And its not like the Jazz had good shooters - we all saw Raja, CJ, and the rest just plain missing open jumpers. With decent shooting his assists numbers would have been even higher. I am willing to bet this year Big Al averages 3 assists per game, or at least he will be close. There is also a training camp and another year under the Jazz system. We will see improvement in this aspect.

[StocktonShorts]

What about trading Millsap to Boston for Avery Bradley + a future pick? It looks like the Celts just signed Jason Terry to fill that PG/SG role.

It seems like something will have to happen with Millsap this summer, either an extension or a trade, and I don't think the Jazz should commit to the $40M/4 years he's reportedly after.

[jazzfan1971]

Don't think the basic idea is crazy, but I don't think we need to get that cute. More and more, today's NBA is about playing pick and roll defense, helping to prevent penetration and rotating to jump shooters. The days of needing a big time defensive center to play post D and patrol the immediate paint area are a thing of the past. That's still great to have, obviously, and don't get me wrong here, but its not essential or next to it. The key to today's defensive schemes are athletic wings who can cover ground, and a mobile big man who can lock his own man down, while also playing every type of pick and roll coverage you need him to. Favors is as good a young big as there is in the league in that respect. He has a chance to be an all timer.

Morever, Kanter has surprisingly shown a similar penchant from the Center position. I think that's potentially a pretty strong foundation for a big time defense already. And Kanter gives you the beef in the paint to hold the fort against the old school big guy if you happen to run into him at some point, too.

What we really need is a coach who preaches D and who can teach it. Then we need one, just ONE, legitimate big time defender on the perimeter. Someone like Rondo. Tony Allen. An old school Battier or Bowen. Someone cut out of that cloth. I thought Singleton had a chance to be that guy last year. MKG is going to be that guy down the road. If we can get someone like that, I think we're on our way. But it will take some time, and a different coach. Still, I think we'll make a big leap up this year defensively no matter what we do. I doubt we maintain our offensive standing, though.

Quality post.

I thought our problems defensively last year could largely be placed at the feet of Al Jefferson. His ineptitude against the PnR was the Jazz main problem on defense. I thought we'd move him for Iggy and get a double whammy of defensive improvement, one by subtraction, one by addition. But, we traded Harris for Williams instead, likely killing any hope for Iggy. Maybe killing any hope of moving Jefferson.

That being said, we just looked lost and lacking effort for much of the year. That's the whole team. ON the bright side, there were games where we looked like we were playing Boston level defense. So, the potential is there.

Main thing I'd like to do is stop running Millsap with Jefferson. Just too many problems with those two paired. One of them needs to come off the bench or be traded.

We could also do a little more switching on PnRs. Especially with Jefferson on teh floor. After 2-3 games of San Antonio carving up our defense we finally started switching or going under on PnRs and it slowed them down quite a bit. Not enough to make a difference, but, I thought we were noticeably better when we forced Parker to beat us with jumpers. Unfortunately, we couldn't score on them, and we couldn't stop their fast break. But, one problem at a time. Against a lot of teams with penetrating guards I think we'll be much better off giving up the jumper than letting the guard attack Jefferson at the rim. He's just invisible in that situation.

[babyjax13]

Houston just rescinded to QO to Courtney Lee - he could be a really nice fit here.

[carrottop12]

Don't think the basic idea is crazy, but I don't think we need to get that cute. More and more, today's NBA is about playing pick and roll defense, helping to prevent penetration and rotating to jump shooters. The days of needing a big time defensive center to play post D and patrol the immediate paint area are a thing of the past. That's still great to have, obviously, and don't get me wrong here, but its not essential or next to it. The key to today's defensive schemes are athletic wings who can cover ground, and a mobile big man who can lock his own man down, while also playing every type of pick and roll coverage you need him to. Favors is as good a young big as there is in the league in that respect. He has a chance to be an all timer.

Morever, Kanter has surprisingly shown a similar penchant from the Center position. I think that's potentially a pretty strong foundation for a big time defense already. And Kanter gives you the beef in the paint to hold the fort against the old school big guy if you happen to run into him at some point, too.

What we really need is a coach who preaches D and who can teach it. Then we need one, just ONE, legitimate big time defender on the perimeter. Someone like Rondo. Tony Allen. An old school Battier or Bowen. Someone cut out of that cloth. I thought Singleton had a chance to be that guy last year. MKG is going to be that guy down the road. If we can get someone like that, I think we're on our way. But it will take some time, and a different coach. Still, I think we'll make a big leap up this year defensively no matter what we do. I doubt we maintain our offensive standing, though.

Excellent analysis. And we may have our lockdown defender already on the team in Burks. There was a lot of talk last year about his defensive potential, and he's got that kind of attitude. If not, those stoppers usually come cheap, extremely undervalued. Hell, Carroll is almost the exact build of your typical defensive stopper. Still some hope there.

[StocktonShorts]

So about that defensive coach...

Maybe Ty's goatee is a defensive genius.

[reapaman]

Do some of you just have blind hatred for Al?

No he's not a "good" defender but I caught a few of you saying that he played a pick and roll wrong when he actually did the right thing. He's called a bad defender yet we have a wing on this team that gets burnt by other wings driving to the basket on the regular, a big man who constantly looks clueless defensively and if he can't rely on his size to guard you then he gets destroyed, ect.... Yet they are called better defenders than Al. And as much as I love Favors, he was average for most of this year and his playoff performance got really overrated. And I hate tearing down favors like that because I defended him to death before the draft but things have gone too far. Al Jefferson is far from te worse defender on this team.

Plus without his offense, we would have trouble scoring consistently especially in high pressure moments when guys like Millsap typically become invisible. Yes Al has not business being #1 and he leaves some things to be desired but let the man be. He has played his but off and has elevated this team to the position that we are at now for better or worse. Give him some credit.

BTW, KOC needs to focus on getting Courtney Lee and Danny Green instead of whatever the heck he's doing will the two williams he added. Also get us a new coaching staff.

[StocktonShorts]

BTW, KOC needs to focus on getting Courtney Lee and Danny Green instead of whatever the heck he's doing will the two williams he added. Also get us a new coaching staff.

I think we agree on this at least.

[Deinonychus]

Do some of you just have blind hatred for Al?

No he's not a "good" defender but I caught a few of you saying that he played a pick and roll wrong when he actually did the right thing. He's called a bad defender yet we have a wing on this team that gets burnt by other wings driving to the basket on the regular, a big man who constantly looks clueless defensively and if he can't rely on his size to guard you then he gets destroyed, ect.... Yet they are called better defenders than Al. And as much as I love Favors, he was average for most of this year and his playoff performance got really overrated. And I hate tearing down favors like that because I defended him to death before the draft but things have gone too far. Al Jefferson is far from te worse defender on this team.

Plus without his offense, we would have trouble scoring consistently especially in high pressure moments when guys like Millsap typically become invisible. Yes Al has not business being #1 and he leaves some things to be desired but let the man be. He has played his but off and has elevated this team to the position that we are at now for better or worse. Give him some credit.

BTW, KOC needs to focus on getting Courtney Lee and Danny Green instead of whatever the heck he's doing will the two williams he added. Also get us a new coaching staff.

It's not that he plays the pick and roll wrong, it's that he doesn't hedge the defender out well because he's either too slow or unmotivated. If you seriously think he doesn't have defensive issues in the pick-and-roll than I honestly don't know what to tell you. It was hard to follow the rest of that paragraph - I think there's some typos or something - but I guess you were referring to Millsap, and I agree with you there. Millsap plays hard, but he has similar problems as Al on pick-and-roll defense (which I don't understand) and also size issues. You can't forget his steals, though - that is one part of defense he does really well.

Millsap scored in a lot of high-pressure situations so I have no idea what you're talking about there. That being said, I agree that Al receives a lot of flak that he probably doesn't deserve. I'm still undecided on how I feel about him (as a player, I think he's a great guy). I have the same problem with Millsap, although I can at least kind of see Paul being a 6th man, and that doesn't seem likely for Jefferson.

Don't understand your hate for the trades, but I agree on pursuing Lee and Green (I wouldn't mind Rush either).

Oh, and I'm glad Erudite23 brought up Kanter's pick-and-roll defense, I think his skill in that regard goes largely unnoticed, and I think he and Favors have huge potential together defensively.